The federal government guaranteed $535 million in loans for Solyndra, a California solar panel maker, as part of the stimulus program's investment in green jobs — now it's bankrupt.

The announcement that the company is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and laying 1,100 people off provided another black eye to the controversial legislation — and the administration that backed and celebrated the loans. President Barack Obama and Energy Secretary Steven Chu each visited to the company's headquarters, according to The Washington Post.

“This was an unexpected outcome and is most unfortunate,” Solyndra chief executive Brian Harrison said in a statement to the Post. “Regulatory and policy uncertainties” made it impossible to raise capital to quickly rescue the operation, he said.

A spokesman for the Department of Energy said that government-subsidized manufacturers were beating Solyndra on price. "The changing economics have affected a number of solar manufacturers in recent months, including unfortunately, Solyndra, a once very promising company that has increased its sales revenue by 2000 percent in three years and sold more than 1000 installations in 20 countries," spokesman Dan Leistikow, wrote on the department's blog. "As a result, Solyndra now plans to suspend its manufacturing operations and file for bankruptcy protection."

Leistikow wrote that most government investments were paying of, saying "these [other] projects, which include more than 40 other companies, are on pace to create more than 60,000 jobs."